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Topic: What is the "Object Concept" of Samatha Bhavana through Anapanasati? (Read 2800 times)

I've recently just started practicing Samatha Bhavana using Anapanasati as my object. However, whenever I breathe in or out, my mind always wanted to picture the object. Is this the correct practice for the long run? Eg: Picturing in my mind the air going in or out of nostrils, picturing in my mind the air passes through a pipe, picturing in my mind the air goes through an object, etc.

Does anapanasati involves a mind picture object? Or involves hearing the breathing instead as the "hear" object? Or involves the feeling of hot and cold air touching the nostril as the "feel" object instead? Or the combination of all?

I knew that we should be aware of our breathing, and Samatha Bhavana dictates that there is only one object to be used (instead of multiple objects as in Vipassana). But in Samatha Bhavana, is it "Awareness" + "Feeling" + "Hearing" + "Imagining an object" + "etc"?

I find this whole thing very curious. Lord Buddha was very specific about many things. There is even a sutta about brushing your teeth. But when it comes to Anapanasati and Sattipathana, he provided a structural overview and many specific details are left undefined. Eyes open or closed? Focus on breathing in the abdomin, nostrils, throat, all over? I personally interpret this omission of specific instructions as an invitation to experiment. What works best for you?

Does anapanasati involves a mind picture object? Or involves hearing the breathing instead as the "hear" object? Or involves the feeling of hot and cold air touching the nostril as the "feel" object instead? Or the combination of all?

I knew that we should be aware of our breathing, and Samatha Bhavana dictates that there is only one object to be used (instead of multiple objects as in Vipassana). But in Samatha Bhavana, is it "Awareness" + "Feeling" + "Hearing" + "Imagining an object" + "etc"?

With samatha ( tranquillity ) meditation one chooses a single object like the breath and remains mindful of that object. So mindfulness of breathing could include the sound of breathing as welll as the various physical sensations like the movement of the abdomen and the feeling of air passing at the nostrils. Traditionally there are 40 meditation objects, the breath is probably the most popular.

There are different approaches to vipassana ( insight meditation ) but broadly speaking awareness is more expansive and there is no single object, rather one is mindfulness of whatever arises. The 4 foundations of mindfulness are useful here ( body, feeling, mind-state and mind-objects ).

Unfortunately, I'm currently stationed in a rural area near Shanghai, hence I had a very limited access on a direct teacher-student guidance. Being an absolute beginner in meditation myself, my current spark of interest/curiosity/motivation have only just started recently when I join a few sessions of meditation organized by a Thai Bhikkhu. His meditation approach uses the Samatha Bhavana-Anapanasati, as according to his teaching it is the easiest approach for it only involve a single object - the breathing.

Therefore, while our meditation sessions only lasted for 5 days, I've found that I had more questions than progress at the end of the day. Whilst it's unfortunate that our Bhikkhu's translator himself wasn't very fluent in either Mandarin or English, there were none of us who knew how to speak Thai either.

Hence the trouble came when I experiment it on my own with no guidance except from reading Samatha Bhavana meditation books. But even then, I've had difficulties on finding any specific information regarding Samatha Bhavana-Anapanasati approach in utmost detail. Given that it's 'Samatha Bhavana' (constricting our entire mind into a single object), instead of 'Vipassana Bhavana' (expanding it through all around objects), I'm literally quite confused as to the correct approach whether it's the combination of 'Awareness' / 'Seeing the object (mentally)' / 'Seeing the object (physically)' / 'Hearing' / 'Feeling' / 'The certain few combination of these' / etc.

I'd be most delighted to hear from everyone's opinion and input in this regard.

Thank you for your input, Sir. By the way, in this regard does this mean that I should open my eyes to note the physical movements of my abdoments? Or should I close my eyes and make a 'mental image' of it moving around instead? If it is, which/what sort of mental image should I use for the long run? Should I focus on my awareness + note abdoments physical/mental image + note feeling of air physical/mental image altogether at once? Once again, thank you for your reply

Strictly speaking, in pure Samatha Bhavana using breathing, you have to train until you can focus on your breathing alone.

As a rule of thumb, in other buddhist tradition, it is said that if you can keep focusing on your breathing for minimum 4 hours without even a slight refocus, your samantha can be considered extremely good.

So, if you use bu + do labeling, it is only use in the beginning. Once your mind start to be able to stay with your breath, you no longer use labeling, but just observing the in and out of your breathing. Only that for 4 hours.

Within these 4 hours, if let's say your mind suddenly imagine a food or something else, your samantha is not very good. So, within 4 hours, it has to be just with the breathing.

It is not an easy practice, but it you keep practice, it will happen.

However, if you are to do it, normally, after a few minute, your breathing will tend to disappear, in the sense that it is difficult to observe the breathing, because it is very fine. Your inhale can be very long and very gentle. Same thing with your breath out.

Therefore, once you reach certain stage or when you notice your breathing start to be very gentle, you shall not use labeling anymore. Because when you use labeling, your breath cannot move from coarse to gentle. You always disturb it with your labeling, so it will always coarse.

Labeling of bu+do or 1+2 or anything is good in the beginning, but it is a poison for the long run.

Once your breathing is very very soft until very difficult to notify, just stay with it, without acceptance and rejection. Let the progress take care on its own, and you shall not intercept it. You just be in it, no acceptance and no rejection.

Be in it with full awareness without any sleepiness or agitation.

Basically, that is the process of Samantha with breathing.

For Vipassana, it is different. It has a factor of trying to understand reality as it is not with thinking but by being it through continuous observation as it is.

In oure samantha, there is no such factor. It is just you and your object. The rest is not your business.

Of course, if we have the capacity, we can combine it. But if we don't have the capacity, we train in perfecting Samantha first.

It shall be noted that Sariputra said in the sutta that in the progress of realizing reality as it is, different people have different way.

Some people train in Samantha first, some train in Vipasana first, and some train both Vipassana and Samantha simultaneously.

So, there is no fixed rule here what you shall train first. And if you shall train Vipassana first, you cannot jump by training Samantha first. It is very very difficult.

Only you can know yourself, so you need to know your ability and weakness, so you can train properly, whether it shall be samantha first, or vipassana first, or shall be both together.

Normally, people who have a tendency to analyze things they shall train from Vipassana first, and from there from the understanding of reality at that stage the samantha will also build up, slowly slowly until both reach perfection.

The perfect meditation is without meditation, without any views, without acceptance, and without rejection.

That is the highest and cannot be understood by beginners.

« Last Edit: April 23, 2013, 07:33:58 pm by BlueSky »

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Enlightenment is simply the clearing away of misunderstanding. When mistaken thinking is gone, liberation has happened. (Gampopa)

When we verbally indicate a thing as 'this' or 'that', our words, like rabbits's horns, are hollow names, mere fictive imputation upon what does not exist. (Longchenpa)

I've recently just started practicing Samatha Bhavana using Anapanasati as my object. However, whenever I breathe in or out, my mind always wanted to picture the object. Is this the correct practice for the long run? Eg: Picturing in my mind the air going in or out of nostrils, picturing in my mind the air passes through a pipe, picturing in my mind the air goes through an object, etc.

Does anapanasati involves a mind picture object? Or involves hearing the breathing instead as the "hear" object? Or involves the feeling of hot and cold air touching the nostril as the "feel" object instead? Or the combination of all?

I knew that we should be aware of our breathing, and Samatha Bhavana dictates that there is only one object to be used (instead of multiple objects as in Vipassana). But in Samatha Bhavana, is it "Awareness" + "Feeling" + "Hearing" + "Imagining an object" + "etc"?

Thank you very much in advance for your answer and your support

Thing is to evaluate for yourself what these things do to the mind - does it calm it down? Or does it make the mind more restless?

You may notice that the constant movement in the mind and changing pictures - may sometimes even agitate the mind more than settle it down.

Hope this will help you in someway, but if it doesn't, do not wait to throw it away..

As it has been mentioned here in replies already.. Yes there are lot of teachings going around about "Anapanasati".

OK. Let's look at some methods. what are they ?

(1). Counting breaths.(2). Keeping mindfulness about the path of breaths.(3). Keeping mindfulness about abdominal movements. (contraction and expansion)(4). Keeping mindfulness of where breaths are feeling in the body.. (special contact position like nostrils, lips, etc..)(5). Imaging something according to breath in and out.(6). Reflecting something when breath in and out (There are lot preferences with this, some of them are "Bud" "doo", "Aaana" "Paana", "Dam" "moo", etc..)[These are the methods which I have practiced, followed and, still.. there may be even lot.. apart from these...]

Are these methods have been discoursed by Lord Buddha.. ? May be.. But certainly not in Tripitaka though.

Are these methods have come from Buddhist background ? Certainly YES.

So, where have they come from ?

Let's look at some of them...(1). Counting breaths - comes from "Visuddi Magga"(2). Keeping mindfulness about the path of breaths - comes from Thailand with Ajahn Chah bikkhu teachings(3). Keeping mindfulness about abdominal movements. (contraction and expansion) - comes from Burma with teaching of Shayadoo, Badantha Sobana bikkhus.(4). Keeping mindfulness of where breaths are feeling in the body.. (special contact position like nostrils, lips, etc..) - there are lot of sources can be found with this.. (In Visuddi Magga Also)

So, Can these methods lead us to nirvana even though they haven't directly come from Lord Buddha ? If you do it correctly so.. The answer is YES.

Why ? They all come in to one point at some stage.

So, what is that stage ? Before answering to this, we need to look at this question ?

So, what are the other preparations ? (nisãdati pallaïkaü àbhujitvà ujuü kàyaü paõidhàya parimukhaü satiü upaññhapetvà)>> You want to sit down folding your legs crosswise.>> You want to hold your upper body erect. >> And You want to bring back your mindfulness.

Here, now you will end up with some questions like "Should I want to close my eyes ?" , "Should I want to find exactly this kind of place to meditate ?", "What is the meaning of bringing back your mindfulness ?". OK, Let's dig into them...

"Should I want to find exactly this kind of place to meditate ?" Answer is certainly NO. So, Why Lord Buddha has mentioned something like this ? It is something we want to consider, it should be discoursed for some purpose.

OK. There are six sense media. What are they ?the eye-medium, the ear-medium, the nose-medium, the tongue-medium, the body-medium, the intellect-medium

So what is happened when a object comes to one of these six medias there will be always a contact with them. It can not be stopped. ("Passa Pacchaya Salayathanaa" - Monks, the origin rising birth and product of contacts are the six sense medias)

Think it like this,Let's suppose, you don't need to hear any voice, but when there is a voice, you hear it always, you can't stop it hearing even though you don't like it..

There is an amazing explanation has been discoursed by Lord Buddha about this..

Imagine a cow for a moment..Now all it's skin has been removed by someone , now it is skinless cow..Now we free this cow,Then wherever this cow goes, other insects are biting it...Cow can't find any kind of relief whatsoever..

So, it is pretty similar to us. whenever objects are come to our eye,ear,nose,tongue,body,mind there is a contact. We just can't stop it. Only thing what we can do is, let it happen..

So, what do we try to do in mediation, we try to evade objects contacting with eye,ear,nose,tongue,body as much as we can, then we can insulate our mind only...

For beginning stages,So, that is why we need a silent place to meditate, when there is no voice it is pretty easy to meditate..Now, you may be understand, whether you want to close your eyes or not ? Certainly answer is , NO you needn't. But, if you close your eyes so, it will easy for you to meditate..

So, Let's suppose you don't need to watch something, then you can close your eyes, if your eyes are open then there is always contact which means whether you need or needn't, you have to watch..So, there is a chance with your eyes by closing it.But with voice, what you can do about them.. ? You need to find a silent place.

So, the fact is,The place, you find to meditate should be, is not much with objects for your eyes,ears,nose,tongue,body to contact

If you can able to understand this, now you probably understand this also..You have to find a place also where no mosquitoes,insects attack you.

OK. Now, It is time to get on with this"What is the meaning of bringing back your mindfulness ?"OK. Now what does this mean is, you are ready to do "Anapanasati", bring your sati(mindfulness) to object of Anapanasati.Let's suppose, at this moment you are thinking about something, now you have to stop it and bring your mindfulness to the Object.

So What is the Object of Anaapanasati ? OK. Before this, let's find out what is the meaning of "Anapanasati", it is combination of three words "Aana" + "Paana" + "Sati""Aana" means breathing in"Paana" means breathing out"Sati" means mindfulnessSo, the meaning of "Anapanasati" is mindfulness about breathing in and out..

There is, you have already know what is the object should be is..If you want to clear it out.. let's dig into "Anaapanasati" sutta again..

Quote

So satova assasati, satova passasati.

(he breathes in with mindfulness he breathes out with mindfulness)

Lord Buddha hasn't mentioned something like you want to mindfulness about nostrils,lips or something like that..But, some teachers suggest, you need to mindful of your nostrils,lips or something like that where you sense the breathings..(This is mainly come from Visuddi Magga)And as I have already mentioned above, there are lot of teaching going around this, that your object should be this..

So, Do these methods works ? As I said early, if you do correctly so, YES, They do.. But It is not "Anaapanasati". The reason is why I say something like that is.. If you mindful of your nostrils,lips or something like that where you sense the breathings, Think.. what is the object is going to be, ?It is going to be a touch of your body. Not breathing..There is a case sometime when you feel and don't feel the touch of breathing.. Then you will be confuse..

But, actually It is not what Lord Buddha has discoursed... What Lord Buddha has discoursed is pretty simple to do so and much more effective than those methods..

You do not need to worry or panic where my breaths are touching in the body or something like that...,You do not need to worry or panic any kind of imaginations...,All you want to do is, mindful whether I am breathing in or whether I am breathing out.. That's the object of Anapanasati.

Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; Breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.' Breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'Breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.'

Lot of teachers teach this by splitting to two.They teach this because,When starting we always breath in long, and when we gradually calm down, it is happen to be short.. It is something more common and general..

But the truth is this is not two steps, this is a single step.. Why do I say something like that ?To understand this better, you need to give a try about this..Try to mindful about one thing. Let's suppose we are going to mindful of your nostrils where you sense the breathings.OK. Give a try and find out how long you can focus only about it ?You will end up doing it pretty soon.

Why ?Simple. Because we don't use to do it generally. What we use to do is, lot of consciousness with many many different objects.When we are trying to get each and every single consciousness to a single object. It is pretty tough.

Lord Buddha has known this more than any one else in the world, so what Lord Buddha has suggested..Try to find out whether you breath in long or short. To understand this better he also has given us a beautiful parable. Here it is..

Just as a clever turner or his apprentice, pulling the bellows long knows, `I pull them long,' and pulling the bellows short knows `I pull them short.' In the same manner, breathing in long, knows `I breathe in long;' breathing out long, knows `I breathe out long.' Breathing in short knows, `I breathe in short,' and breathing out short knows `I breathe out short.'

(Now , you will be able to understand why It is single step.. )

So, it is pretty easy to doing this instead of trying to mindful about one thing all the time at the beginning.. Because it is pretty similar to how our consciousness are worked at the moment.. When we try to introduce something that we didn't used to.. then it is pretty tough to adjust, it should be done in slow manner..

When you understand this correctly, you will say How amazing Lord Buddha is.. ? His every single word has some kind of meaning to consider...

So, after you prepared for the "Anaapanasati" this will be your first stage..

So, Give a try it buddy...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------IF YOU END UP DOING THIS WITH PANIC LIKE, "THIS IS TOO TOUGH TO DO" , AFTER TRYING THIS FIRST STAGE, THENTHERE IS SOMETHING WE WANT TO CONSIDER...---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is a sign of lack of mindfulness..Even though this first stage is more likely to in easy side when we consider with focusing only one object every time, there is still some good mindfulness you want to have..

If you haven't maintain good mindfulness in your day to day routines as it has been mentioned in "Satipatthana Sutta", There is an every chance you will be panic at this stage..

"And further, O bhikkhus, when he is going, a bhikkhu understands: 'I am going'; when he is standing, he understands: 'I am standing'; when he is sitting, he understands: 'I am sitting'; when he is lying down, he understands: 'I am lying down'; or just as his body is disposed so he understands it.

"Thus he lives contemplating the body in the body internally, or he lives contemplating the body in the body externally, or he lives contemplating the body in the body internally and externally. He lives contemplating origination-things in the body, or he lives contemplating dissolution-things in the body, or he lives contemplating origination-and-dissolution-things, in the body. Or indeed his mindfulness is established with the thought: 'The body exists,' to the extent necessary just for knowledge and remembrance, and he lives independent and clings to naught in the world." Thus, also, O bhikkhus, a bhikkhu lives contemplating the body in the body."The Four Kinds of Clear Comprehension

"And further, O bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, in going forwards (and) in going backwards, is a person practicing clear comprehension; in looking straight on (and) in looking away from the front, is a person practicing clear comprehension; in bending and in stretching, is a person practicing clear comprehension; in wearing the shoulder-cloak, the (other two) robes (and) the bowl, is a person practicing clear comprehension; in regard to what is eaten, drunk, chewed and savored, is a person practicing clear comprehension; in defecating and in urinating, is a person practicing clear comprehension; in walking, in standing (in a place), in sitting (in some position), in sleeping, in waking, in speaking and in keeping silence, is a person practicing clear comprehension.

"Thus he lives contemplating the body in the body internally... and clings to naught in the world. Thus, also, O bhikkhus, a bhikkhu lives contemplating the body in the body."

You now you can do two things...(1). First you can motivate yourself do all day to day routines with mindfulness as it has been mentioned in "Satipatthana Sutta" (2). But there is always a second option too..

What is the best one for you, depend on your preference.

So what is the second option ?

There are several options that you can use to improve your mindfulness..Here are some of them...(1). Counting breaths.(2). Keeping mindfulness about the path of breaths.(3). Imaging something according to breath in and out.(4). Reflecting something when breath in and out (There are lot preferences with this, some of them are "Bud" "doo", "Aaana" "Paana", "Dam" "moo", etc..)(5). Keeping mindfulness about abdominal movements. (contraction and expansion) - [There is something you want to understand about this method, you can make progress in your meditation by doing this method only too - There are lot of version regarding this]

Even though, we talk these methods are "Anaapanasati" , actually these methods are for improving mindfulness..[But as I have already mentioned early, they all come to one point at some stage..]

Since there are lot of methods to do it so, let's dig in to at least one of them..

[1] Counting breaths.

This is the most famous one among the mediators. As I have mentioned early, this has come from "Visuddi Magga"

There are lot of ways to count your breaths also..(1). Counting your breaths only sensing your breaths in and out(2). Counting your breaths when you feel breath contacting the specific body part like nostrils,lips.. - (Personally, this didn't wok for me)(3). You can also count, When your abdominal muscles go up and down according to it..

Picking one is again , depend on your preference and what works best for you...

(3) Some counts (1 to 10) or (1 to some specific target set by them self) again and again.(4) Some counts (100 to 1) in descending order

So, as you can see, there are few ways of doing that.. there is no specific way to do it. But counting as rounds or counting it to descending order will help you to improve mindfulness in big time.

[Personally, I use (1) and (2) lot..]

So, when you are ready to count..Preparation process can be done same as what we have discovered in "Anaapanasati"Keeping your eyes close will give your more compatibility.

So, First don't focus or worry of your breaths.. Just slowly start to count.. [Remember you should count on medium pace, not too much with slowness and not too much with speed](However you will find/feel breathing and counting are more like to parallel, just don't worry about that) If you can complete at least full 3 rounds without any panic. Then it is time to start counting with your breaths..This is will be more challenging because there are pauses between breaths.In these short period of pauses, you can be end up with forgetting something like in which round I was in ? where did I count last ?...

RULE OF COUNTING

Quote

However, There is a major rule for counting.. When you end up with forgetting something like in which round I was in ? where did I count last ?Don't wait.. Start it again from the beginning.

So, here how it counts.. It is tough than we think..However, when you are able to count whole 3 or 4 rounds without any panic, you are ready to follow the first stage of "Aaanapana sati."

Importing Points To Remember About Counting

(1). There is no specific way to count breaths which means you can count only when breaths are inyou can count only when breaths are outoryou can count when both happensIt is also depends on what works best for you and what is more compatibility for you. So to understand it, You want to practices and practices again and gain the experience.

(2). You can also count this fashion according to up and down of your abdominal muscle.If you don't feel it so well, then you can place your hand gently on your abdominal muscle. This will help you to understand the up and down movements well..

(3). There are no such rules that this method should be or can be applied to only for counting breaths, you can add this method also to your day to day basic routines to gain more mindfulness. (As an example you can try this with your steps when walking). What is we are looking for here, is mindfulness, So, it doesn't matter where does it come from or, how does it come...But counting breaths can lead your breaths in to the pattern/rhythm, it may be helpful in next stages.

[The best way to improve your mindfulness is, doing your day to day basic routines with mindfulness- It is the fastest way to improve it]

So, when you are ready for the first stage..Don't wait to start...

==================================================================== First Stage With In Detail.====================================================================

Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long';Breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.'Breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'Breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.'

Now, The worth thing you can do is, give a try.. because now you have already improve your mindfulness to some stage.

When doing this, you will find out some breaths are long and some are short... meanwhile you will experience this.. that, you could not still hold your mindfulness only with this , it is jumping and jumping to one object to another one, Past To Future, Future To Past, as it never ends...

When this thing happens quite regularly, there is a tendency, you will get panic sooner...You may be end up with saying..."This is so harder.. I can't do this..""I can't handle this.. I can't hold my mindfulness on one thing..." something like that...

This is where mediators should be care with their emotions..

So, Every time when you experience that you can't hold your mindfulness on a one object. You are expecting to do something...

Even though we say "discerns", when we convert this in to English, In pali there are few similar/close words can be found to this, "Jaanathi", "Vijaanathi", "Samjaanathi", "Parijaanathi", "Abijaanathi". So it is tough to say what is actually mean by this word of "pajànàti" from English.

This is however the best way to explain it...Yes.. your mind is jumping to one object to another object. Mindfulness about it. Don't panic at it. It is the way how it works. So, again bring back your mindfulness to your breathing.

Do you get it ? Lord Buddha has known all about this, There is a tendency to swap past to future, future to past in your mind.. So, it is not something you need to panic. Because it is how it is.. All you want to do is when your mind go to past, bring back it to your breath, when your mind go to future, again bring it back to your breath..

If you want to stop it happens, then you are in trouble ?

This is really important. When there is an object for mind, there is a contact always. Imagine what Lord Buddha has discoursed about contact ...

Quote

Imagine a cow for a moment..Now all it's skin has been removed by someone , now it is skinless cow..Now we free this cow,Then wherever this cow goes, other insects are biting it...Cow can't find any kind of relief whatsoever..

Remember ? When there is an object, it something always happen.. We can't stop it even though we want, we can't stop it even though we don't like it...

So, if you like to stop it happens, you will be end up with suffering,panic,negative... etc...

It is something like this, imagine this for a moment,When there is a water-fall it always falls from up to down.., when you need it to falls from down to up, it never happens.. then you will be end up with suffering, panicSo, this same theory applies to here also, till you are thinking... "Stop this... Stop this.. Do not jump to past, Do not jump to future, I need to mindful at one thing.." , you will be end up with panic...Why ? Because, we are clinging it.. until we leave it, we have to suffer...

When we understand the reality, Mind calms it down always..

When we understand this reality.. When we understand this truth, Mind suddenly calms it down..So, there is no need to panic at this situation, all we need to do is, understand the situation correctly...

When we understand the reality, Mind calms down always.. , This is not something special to this situation, it happens every time you understand the reality..You don't want to accept this, just experience it..When you feel your mind is so uneasy.. Think about "Anithya", think about the reality of the body, think about the Lord Buddha...You will experience, that your mind will gradually, slowly calm it down...

(2). Secondly deep breathing...Now you know that this is something happens in your mind... It is not your problem... All you have to do is, don't upset with it...Just do what you are doing...Best thing you want to understand is, that is how mind works...When we understand this, we will not consider it much..It keep swapping to past to future, we keep bringing it back to our breath...This thing tend to happen so until our mind gets a compatibility with it.

Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking & pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness.

What it does is, gradually objects of the consciousness chain will be more and more about breaths..

So, as a support for this process, we can use deep breathing method..When your mind is so uneasy, deep breathing will help you to calm it down.. All you want to do is get a deep breath..practicing this won't make any bad for you. So, when you understand that your mind is swapping more than it's normal, you can't bring back your mindfulness to your breathing, in this stage you can take a deep breath.. It will help you to bring back your mindfulness..

Ajahn Chah bikkhu has teached that when your mind so uneasy, take a deep breath, and hold it as much as you can, then breath it out ... (It is a really good method to keep your mind so calm, I have personally practiced this, but the fact is doing this regular basic can lead you to some pain...,But There is no tendency to happen it doing few times... I mean doing it really lot...)

This is the hardest stage you will find.. and before going on further...You want to understand this...

This is something like foundation of a building.. so it will take some time.. you want to maintain good patience.. (There are lot of guys in the world, they need quick, fast result..., But with meditation you have to wait, wait and wait so on.., There are so many peoples in the world who are fat and want to loss fat, weight in 2-3 weeks.., but they can't understand one thing that they haven't come to this kind of situation in 2-3 weeks) Same applies to this also... we haven't practiced our heart for a long time. we haven't calm our heart down for the long period of time.. and suddenly we want to calm it down... It is so so unreasonable..

What are the bold words? You will say Lord Buddha is really really great... This is the advice that Lord Buddha has discoursed how to do meditate ?(01) àtàpi - you need to keep fighting.. and fighting again...until you will find the peace(02) sampajàno - you need to clearly comprehend(03) satimà - and you need to maintain mindfulness

"sampajàno" and "satimà" actually pretty hard to describe, It is something one checks the situation whether we are in the right track or not? and other will get to the right track always..

So, You need to maintain really good patience and key is consistency...If you lost the consistency with your mediating, you have to start it from beginning again. Specially with your mindfulness... Keep practicing,practicing and practicing...

Is there any specific time that I want to do for first stage, or second stage ?Certainly NO. It depends on lot of things. When your mindfulness is improving gradually, andIf you meditate regularly, you will find out that you won't need to practice as much as you did early for these stages...

So when to change for Second Stage ? As mentioned above, There is no specific time for it, it depends on you. When gradually objects of the consciousness chain will be more and more about breaths, you will feel it.. you may starting feel some whole breaths more and more.. you may starting to feel that mind is so calm than later, it is very rarely swapping to past or future now.. when you to start to feel these kind of signs then it is time to move to the second stage..

Some teachers will teach you that these stages are come automatically, If so, Why Lord Buddha has discoursed something like this by stage by stage..The truth is, when we get master in some stage, we will get some kind of signs that Now you are ready to move to the next stage..

So, Here you want to master something..., you want to train.. train.. train.. it until you get those some signs..

So, what do you want to master, what do you want train ?He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body.He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.

What is this entire body means ? It means your entire breath..So why body ? Because breath is also a body that has been made from "Patawi", "Aapo", "Theajo", "Vayo" "daathu"

So, now you want to mindful to the entire breath, again there you don't want to follow the path of the breath, you don't want to panic where it hits on the body and you don't want to make any kind of imagination about it...

What you all want to do is? like first stage, mindful at entire breath...Try to mindful at entire breath only...You want to keep doing and doing it again...

So, when you are making a progress of this stage, you will find these kind of feelings...You may still hear voices around you, like they are not heard...You may gradually lost your sense about your body... , it is still there , you know it, you feel it, but you don't feel it at all...You may feel that pauses between breaths are getting wider and wider...You may feel that there are also pauses between breath in and out...You may feel that gradually your breaths are slowing down...

So, These are the feelings, you can find out of this stage...It won't come easy.That's sure.. But it will come easy rather than first stage...

So, when you master at this stage, again, you will feel some kind of signs...Here are they...You will feel your breaths have been slow down as you never experienced before..You will feel there are long pauses between one breath to other breath...You will feel there are small pauses (But very explicit ones) between breaths in and out..Most importantly...You will feel that entire breath is really soft as you never experienced before...and You will find that your mindfulness is only with your breathing

So, If you find these signs, It is a message for you to move to the next stage...

You will find out the word "sikkhati" here also, that means as you have done early...you want to keep train and train till you master this...

So, To get a good idea about this stage.. you have to experience this...At this stage, Control of your mindfulness almost belongs to you.If you experience this, You won't probably ask.. How ? Just tell to your breaths calm it down... Sense that you want to calm them down..With every and each breath..Gradually, They will calm down by their self...

All you have to do is, just train train and train again...

The good news is, you may not want to do this long as you have done in early stages...Because your mindfulness is so so strong now than before...

Suddenly, there will be a time..Your breaths have been totally clam down...You can't sense the breath any more...You will feel something instead of that some kind of rapture which you haven't experienced in your whole life...It is something really strange to you...

These are the signs for you to next stage...When this starts to happen you..You will be uneasy for sure..You will need to feel that more with some kind of fear...When this happens, there is a tendency to be uneasy, and it is very common...

But actually what you want to do is, just keep your coolness.. That is the only way you can experience\enjoy that unbelievable rapture..But to control yourself in this kind of situation usually comes from with your experience..It is pretty common that you will end up your meditating session here...Even though you want to feel it again straight way, you won't be able do it so in most cases...

But I can promise you something, you will never ever give up with "Anapansati" again...because, you will need to feel that moment again and again...

So, When you master.. how to control yourself in this kind of situation...It is time to move to your next stage...

afterwards, you will experience some amazing situations which you haven't experienced in your whole life so far...

But dear.. I do not have any energy to cite them all now.. I am bit tired now also.. Typing so much...

In your path, you will have to face some problems regarding meditations, you will be confuse at some stages, you can be end up with lot of problems.. Whatever the problem is.. You will find an answer some day.. It is all about patience and consistency.

Final advice to you.. Whatever your experienced from meditations, do not fear to it, it may take some time to control your self.. always look for reality.. It will calm down you...

Practice and Practice again.. gain your experience...Once you understand the foundation... You want to carry out it from then on...First two stages are bit harder than we think...and afterwards stages are not much harder like we think...

There are may be many spelling and grammar mistakes.. I want to beg sorry for it..

Still there are lot of things you want to know about these first stages.. I tried to explain as much as I can... Best thing to do is... practicing than reading and listening when you know something about foundation... Then you will able to find the correct path... By the way, You will make mistakes.It is pretty common.. But those mistakes lead you to the peace some day...

You can always skip exercises for improving mindfulness like breathing count, if you have maintained good mindfulness, and you can start straight way "Anaapanasati..."

Before ending this.. I want to show you how explicitly Lord Buddha has discoursed this to us...Here it is...

Truth be told I had a teary-eyed moment halfway reading through your post, for you have greatly assisted me with such a omplete, step-by-step, and in-depth approach of Anapanasati meditation. I will proceed on my training right away, with the approach & guidance of your current post, Sir.

Once again, thank you for taking such a brilliant endeavor in educating me with your inspiring post, and for providing us all with the best of insight, motivation, and spirit to progress through our mind and spiritual development

@ Mr. NormanThank you for your input, Sir. By the way, in this regard does this mean that I should open my eyes to note the physical movements of my abdoments? Or should I close my eyes and make a 'mental image' of it moving around instead? If it is, which/what sort of mental image should I use for the long run? Should I focus on my awareness + note abdoments physical/mental image + note feeling of air physical/mental image altogether at once? Once again, thank you for your reply

There are different approaches, but personally I'd advise keeping this as simple as possible. Try to directly feel the movement of the abdomen or the breath passing the nostrils - that's all that's required, there's no need to develop a mental image or think about these physical sensations or whatever. Or just hear the sound of the breath, nothing further is required.There are various techniques like counting the breath or using mantras, but these are an aid to being mindful of the breath, and are not themselves the object of concentration - they can become a distraction to the practice.

Does anapanasati involves a mind picture object? Or involves hearing the breathing instead as the "hear" object? Or involves the feeling of hot and cold air touching the nostril as the "feel" object instead? Or the combination of all?

I knew that we should be aware of our breathing, and Samatha Bhavana dictates that there is only one object to be used (instead of multiple objects as in Vipassana). But in Samatha Bhavana, is it "Awareness" + "Feeling" + "Hearing" + "Imagining an object" + "etc"?

You asked a rather deep question. The "object-support" is "ārammaṇa" in Pali language.

'Sati upaṭṭhāna' means that 'sati' (remembrance), having approached, stays on that object-support (ārammaṇa) (i.e. the representation (nimitta) which has arisen due to natural in-and-out-breath).

Patisambhidamagga-Atthakatha 2.509

The upper lip or tip of the nose area is the proper place to get, through the touch with air, the representation (nimitta) of air necessary for further development of jhana, since jhana in anapanasati is a subtype of air kasina practice:

"But is this all the absorption belonging to the consciousness of the sphere of refined form, beginning with the earth kasiṇa and ending in the perception of the skeleton? Or is there anything else?""Yes, there is. There is ānāpāna jhāna and the development of kāyagatāsati, which have not been spoken of here.""Why not?""Because ānāpāna jhāna is included in the air kasiṇa; the development of kāyagatāsati arisen by virtue of the fourfold and fivefold jhānas with reference to the hair etc., is included in the colour kasiṇas; the kāyagatāsati produced by virtue of the jhānas attending to the unattractiveness in the thirty-two parts of the body, and that of the jhāna attending to the colours of the nine kinds of corpses in the charnel grounds is included in the ten repulsive things. Thus all the absorptions of consciousness connected with the sphere of refined form have been included here."

So what does parimukha.msati.m mean and how do you know this is the correct meaning as the Buddha intended it? It seems to me that anapanasati doesn't work if you follow the established Theravadin interpretation of being mindful (sati) around (pari) the mouth (mukha).

So what does parimukha.msati.m mean and how do you know this is the correct meaning as the Buddha intended it?

Since Buddha has Gone long ago, I just use the earliest sources possible.

"Sati", according to the suttas, means "remembrance", and "parimukhaṃ", per earliest explanation in Vibhanga, means "near the mouth", i.e. in the area of nostrils and upper lip.

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It seems to me that anapanasati doesn't work if you follow the established Theravadin interpretation of being mindful (sati) around (pari) the mouth (mukha).

I don't understand what "being mindful around the mouth" means in practice. Narrowing the scope of attention to the mouth area? Observing sensations there? Being mindful of what exactly? And what does "mindfulness" mean - being attentive to what happens, or keeping something in mind? Nowadays fuzzy instructions are established.

The commentarial explanation given above clarifies the exact meaning, - establishing remembrance (keeping in mind) the representation (nimitta) which arises due to the contact with air. This works very well in practice, though requires the preliminary removal of hindrances, as described in the Anapanasati chapter of Patisambhidamagga and Vimuttimagga (page 158):

"To the yogin who attends to the incoming breath with mind that is cleansed of the nine defilements the image (nimitta) arises."

So what does parimukha.msati.m mean and how do you know this is the correct meaning as the Buddha intended it?

Since Buddha has Gone long ago, I just use the earliest sources possible.

"Sati", according to the suttas, means "remembrance", and "parimukhaṃ", per earliest explanation in Vibhanga, means "near the mouth", i.e. in the area of nostrils and upper lip.

Quote

It seems to me that anapanasati doesn't work if you follow the established Theravadin interpretation of being mindful (sati) around (pari) the mouth (mukha).

I don't understand what "being mindful around the mouth" means in practice. Narrowing the scope of attention to the mouth area? Observing sensations there? Being mindful of what exactly? And what does "mindfulness" mean - being attentive to what happens, or keeping something in mind? Nowadays fuzzy instructions are established.

The commentarial explanation given above clarifies the exact meaning, - establishing remembrance (keeping in mind) the representation (nimitta) which arises due to the contact with air. This works very well in practice, though requires the preliminary removal of hindrances, as described in the Anapanasati chapter of Patisambhidamagga and Vimuttimagga (page 158):

"To the yogin who attends to the incoming breath with mind that is cleansed of the nine defilements the image (nimitta) arises."